Flame
Chapter 30 - Aftermath
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When I woke up, I wasn't in any more pain. I wasn't in the basement, or in the car, or in the forest. No, when I woke up I was in a hospital room. There were balloons on the stand next to my bed, flowers and cards. There were so many cards it left me stunned. Who were they from?
I was in one of the hospital robes, settled in the middle of a comfortable bed. There was an IV in my arm and I watch the clear liquid being pumped into me. A part of me knew it was a light dosage of morphine because I couldn't feel my abdomen's pain at all, but I was still a little awed by it. I felt light and safe and tired as I relaxed into the bed.
Ian.
I open my fluttering eyes and slowly push the covers aside, twitching my toes before moving my legs to the side of the bed. The floor wasn't cold, it had a carpet and I step carefully while feeling my head buzz in tiredness. I contemplate whether or not I should take out my IV but I knew it was best to not feel any more aching.
I grab unto the IV stand and use it as support when my legs buckle. Then I'm slowly making my way to the door, my thought rushing a mile a minute. Where did they put Ian? Where was he? I needed to see him. I needed to see if he was okay. He had to be.
My body felt heavier than usual and my steps felt long and slow. Still, I found myself opening the door and I blink at the bright hallway. My room had clearly been a little bit dimmed. A part of me wondered where my mates were, why they hadn't been there when I woke up but a greater part of me was aching to search for Ian.
There was a pack member walking down the hallway and his eyes opened as soon as he saw me. I knew that Christopher and Nicholas already were told i was awake by him. The man rushes towards me, smiling wide even though there was worry clear in his expression. "Alpha Brandon! I'm so glad you're awake! How do you feel? You shouldn't be up! I've told Alphas Nich-"
"My brother" I interrupt, shaking my head slowly. "Where's my brother."
His mouth opens and he shakes his head a little bit sad, "You've not heard..." he trails off slowly.
My heart pounds in my chest, my vision going dizzy, "Heard what" I demand in a weak croak. "Tell me" I add when he hesitates.
"Well..." my head began to spin, "I'm sorry for your loss, Alpha Brandon" he says but I stopped hearing him the second that sentence left his mouth, "I didn't-"
"Brandon." I couldn't feel much of a relief when I heard my mates behind me. I could feel my whole word falling apart, my chest aching as my heart shattered. I could feel my eyes water and my fingets felt numb against the stand. My legs buckle but strong arms catch me and I struggle to take a breath as Christopher moved in front of me, a warm chest pulling me back into it. I couldn't even process how beautiful he looked right now. How completely safe.
Ian really was gone.
"Brandon? How do you feel? Hey what's wrong?" he asks when he sees my face. "Nicholas" he says sharply.
Nicholas places his hands under my knees and pulls me up as he took me back into the room. He sets me down on the bed and stands on one side as Christopher moved to the other. "Brandon, what's wrong?"
I choke on a sob, feeling tears build in my eyes, "Ian" I manage through a weak sob. "Ian."
"What did they say about Ian" Nicholas demands. That's when I cry and I shake my head, sobbing hard as Nicholas cupped my face. "Brandon. Brandon, look at me. Ian's fine. He's fine. Did someone say otherwise" I raise my eyes to him, choking on a sob. Nicholas moves his cold gaze to Christopher. "Find him" he snarls.
Christopher nods once before Nicholas pulls my face to him. "Ian is fine" he assures, brushing my tears. I couldn't stop crying though. I felt it. I felt my heart breaking. I couldnt just stop. I couldn't. They wait until i stop crying. They sit on the bed and hold me close as I calm down to a weak shudder. They sit with me in silence for a while longer before finally talking to me.
They sat on either side of me, my head laying on Nicholas' shoulder while Christopher sat looking at me, his fingers curled with mine. Nicholas is the one to talk. "Brandon, Ian is fine. He's alive" he pauses and his voice softens the tiniest bit, "I won't lie to you" he murmurs, "He's still in intensive care. The bullet hit extremely close to important organs. His heart keeps stopping from time to time. Right now, he's on life support, but he is getting better, Brandon. Eliza is with him and believe me, she is helping him more than you know."
I choke on a small sob, "He can still die, can he" I cry.
They don't lie to me, they don't say anything at all. "There's something else" Christopher adds and he takes a small pause before tracing my fingers, "Eliza is pregnant. You're going to be an uncle."
No. I wasn't. Ian and I weren't related.
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Two days later, I found myself able to move without flinching in pain. Both Chris and Nick were as surprised as everyone else, but after studies were made on me, it appeared Milo was right. My healing had improved quite a bit, my cells doubled faster and I overall didn't get injured as much as I'd used to.
Milo was back to his normal self, as normal as he could be. He was with Will all the time. Any symptom he felt and Will was told immediately. He also told me how their link was starting to become stronger, extremely slowly, but it was. He was relieved about that, I wouldn't be able to know what that felt like at all. I wasn't one of them. Now with my healing improving, I wasnt a normal human anymore either. I was just... odd.
And Ian.
Ian was still in intensive care, still on that bed, still asleep. Everyone said he was asleep but i knew better. He was in a coma. He was still in that awful room and I just wanted him to sit up and hold me and tell me it would be okay.
I hadn't exactly spoken about what I went through when I'd been taken. Christopher and Nicholas and the others had asked basic questions, of course, but they didn't ask for many details. I was glad. I didnt want to remember that again. I didn't want to tell them how close he'd been to raping me again. I didnt want them to know. I just wanted to forget.
"Hey." I look up slowly and watch as Lukas walked into the living room and took a seat on the couch across from me. Everyone kept their distance from me. Maybe they thought something happened or maybe they didnt want to upset me. I just didn't know how to feel. I didn't know how to react or what to do. All I could do was think.
"Hey" I murmur and smile as best as I can, raising my eyes to his before lowering them back to the table where I watched my ice cubes melt.
"How are you doing? And feeling?" he asks after he clears his throat.
I shrug slowly and play with the edge of my sleeves. Most people would think I would be glued to Ian's side. That I wouldn't do anything else but hold his hand. The thing was, I couldn't bear to look at him like that. I couldn't just sit there and wait. Wait for him to get better. Wait for him to wake up. I couldn't just wait.
"Have you visited Ian today?" He asks knowing the answer. They saw me go into his room this morning. "He's looking much better, isn't he?" He looked the same to me. "I feel like he'll be up and about soon enough." I nod weakly and lower my eyes back to the table. "Brandon. He really will be okay, just be patient. He'll get better."
"Okay..." I murmur.
"I've got to patrol. Let me know if you need anything, okay? Chris and Nick should be done with their meeting soon alright? Take it easy" he adds before standing and making his way out of the room.
Once he leaves I'm surprised to see Eliza making her way inside. She didn't look any better than I did. Her hair was grabbed her attire probably the same as last night. She needed Ian as much as i did, I realized. Especially seeing that she was pregnant. It was still amazing to me. Ian was going to be a father. He was going to be very surprised when he woke up.
If he woke up.
"Brandon" she says and I cant help but staring at her stomach. When would she start to show? Will Ian be able to see her? Will it be a girl or a boy? "Hey" she adds.
I look up at her, "Hi."
"I was going to ask" she says as she approaches me and takes a seat beside me. She places her hands on her lap, her fingers intertwining. "I wouldn't ask before with how you felt and your condition, but you've gotten better and I need to ask. Ian needs blood. We've tried contacting the human blood bank and its gonna take a while. Most of the blood be have is shifter blood and since Ian's your brother, I thought you could help.
Dread settled in the pit of my stomach as I turned away from her. "I can't" I murmur weakly. I hadn't told anyone that Ian and I weren't really related. I still didn't even know if it was true, but I didn't want anyone to know. I didn't want it to be true. Then again, now was the perfect time to figure out if it was true.
"I wouldn't have asked if Ian didn't need it, Brandon. Please" she chokes. I realized that this was as bad to her as it was to me. While Ian was everything to me, they were soul mates. They belonged with each other. I couldn't compete with that. Besides, maybe we even had the same blood type.
I nod slowly and stand up, making my way after her. Chris and Nick still weren't around and I knew they would want to know I'd give blood. They would feel it and probably even panic at first. She leads me down to the hospital wing and I follow her into his room, where I pause to look at him. He was laying so still, so calm. So weak. The pack doctor was already in there with some needles set up and I roll up my sleeve while taking a seat on the chair on the side.
"Ah, Alpha Brandon. I'm glad you've considered this. I know it's on such short notice" he begins.
"If it helps him" I murmur.
Terror grips my chest when he wraps the band around my upper arm and he pushes the needle into my arm. "I'll take a sample first and see the match. In some cases, siblings don't have the same blood but I don't think that'll be the case with you two. It'll only take fifteen minutes."
After that he leaves and we're left in silence staring at Ian, hearing his heart beating in the monitor. It made me want to choke into sobs. I wanted him to wake up already. Eliza doesn't try to make talk and around half an hour later, the pack doctor came back looking a little confused. The dread on the pit of my stomach only grew at his expression.
It was true.
"Alpha Brandon, I made the test more than once, but you and Ian don't share blood type" he pauses as Chris and Nick walk into the room and he clears his throat as he meets my eyes. "In fact, you two aren't... related at all." I see Christopher's head snap up at the doctor and Nicholas pauses with his same expression. Eliza moves her face to me but I simply lower my gaze to my fingers, feeling tears build up in my eyes. "But... you already knew this, didn't you?"
My throat clogs with the tears but I hold them back and swallow hard, "Yeah" I croak weakly.
"Wait what?" Christopher asks, beyond confused.
"Brandon?" Nicholas adds.
I swallow again and raise my eyes to Ian, "Father told me" I murmur slowly, feeling a little numb as I remembered my time there. "I thought he was lying to me. Just to hurt me. I guess he wasn't. Ian and I aren't related."
An hour later, I found myself in the pack room with the others. Word had spread rather quickly and even Milo and Will had come in here. Lukas and Gabbie and the others. Lukas' parents and... my friends. They were waiting for me, to tell them what happened to me but I just didn't want to go back there in any way.
"Ian and I aren't brothers" I say simply, raising my eyes to them just a little tiredly. Christopher's hands were on my shoulders as he stood behind me. Nicholas sat beside me with his hand holding mine tight. "He's not my brother, he's my cousin."
"Your cousin?" Lukas asks, confused. "How is that possible?"
"Ian said he remembered your- his mom being pregnant" Gabbie adds.
"Father told me" I murmur softly. "He only wanted Ian and gave Ian's brother into adoption. As for me, my mother was Ian's mother's sister. They were twins, and when she gave birth to me, she passed away. Father was in love with her. He was obsessed with her enough to keep me." I shake my head slowly, "It's why he raped me in the first place. He wanted her. He saw her in me and..." I trail off weakly. "Ian isn't my brother, he's my cousin."
"Does Ian know?" Milo asks. I shake my head weakly.
"What else did he tell you?" Christopher asks, gently rubbing my shoulders.
I pause slowly, remembering his insults, his hits, how he starved me. I lower my head while closing my eyes hard but I don't have to say anything. "Let him rest." My heart swells even more for Milo when I raise my eyes to his. He saw through me, he knew something happened. He knew I didn't want to go back yet. He just knew.
Christopher and Nicholas agree to that and they help me up, leading me back into our room while closing the door behind them. They take out a spare set of clothes for me and I pull my shirt over my head, pausing at how thinner I looked. I still had a couple bruises that were more than fading away. I still had to wear the gauze around my abdomen, but the skin was already stitched correctly and healing. I was told it would scar though.
Christopher and Nicholas were waiting for me on the bed and I make my way once I was changed and I'd dropped my dirty outfit on the carpet. I crawl between them and let them tuck me into the bed, thinking about the first night I'd been back in here with them. My wound had still been fresh and they had tried to ease my pain and undress me, to change me into night clothes. Tried. I'd panicked when their hands had touched my jeans.
We'd talked much later that night. I'd assured them nothing happened. That I hadn't been abused again. They had assured me that it didn't matter. That they loved me and that they always would love me. That I could take all the time I needed. Still, I felt guilty because they definitely weren't him.
I don't know how much time happens but I'm woken up by cold around me. The room had been dimmed and I had been covered. I could still feel the heat on the mattress beside me so I knew Nicholas and Christopher hadn't been gone for long. I sit up slowly and rub my face before pushing the covers aside. The clock on the side read two in the morning and I make my way out of the room sleepily. The hall was bright once I step out and I make my way down, to the living room only to find it empty.
Next, I check the kitchen and find it empty. I do find a pack member walking into the room and he pauses when he sees me, bowing. "Alpha Brandon, can I help you with anything?"
"Have you seen Christopher and Nicholas?" I ask looking around. "They weren't in bed."
The pack member nods, "Yes of course. Lukas woke them for an important meeting. Some of the trackers looking where... you were kept came back" he pauses, "They're up there now."
My heart lurches in my chest and I spin around to make my way towards the meeting room. The only thing I could think about was the camera. He kept it for a reason. Now, I realized, he did say I would never see my mates again. He hadn't had it... for them... had he.
By the time I make my way towards the room, my side ached a little and I see the double doors of the meeting room. When I open the doors, I see my mates, Lukas, his uncles and Milo. My attention didn't go to them, no. My eyes went to the screen and I'm stunned as I watch how father had his arm gripped around my throat.
"Brandon" Nicholas says. "Stop it" he orders. But they didn't, not on time, not when they saw me start to struggle. How he'd taken my necklace. Not when I was thrown against the table, my head hitting. Not when he hauled me up and slammed me on the table.
I still remembered the cold as he'd yanked my jeans.
I open my mouth, but I couldn't even breath, I couldn't even scream. All I managed was a thick sob with hot tears before I numbly turn around and sprint from the room. I stumble down the hall, hearing Nicholas call my name, hearing Christopher. I stumble down the stairs and trip down the last few, my vision blurry with tears. I pick myself up and head for the door.
I needed air. I needed air. I needed to breathe. I couldn't breathe.
Once I'm outside, I stumble unto the grass and clutch the shrubs, choking on air. I shudder when arms land on my shoulders and cry when Christopher pulls me into his chest. He presses my face into his shoulder and I cling to him with everything I had. "I fought" I sob hard, clutching his shirt, shaking. "I fought, Christopher, I fought."
"It's okay" he murmurs holding me tight. "It's okay. We don't blame you. You fought, that's all that matters. It's okay, Brandon. It's okay."
I lean back and shake my head watching Nicholas drop to his knees beside me. He reaches and brushes my cheeks gently. "He didn't. He didn't touch me. He didn't get far. I fought. I fought, Nicholas."
Christopher caresses my jaw, "What do you mean? He didn't?"
I shake my head, choking on a sob, but this one was more of a relief cry. He didn't. He didn't touch me. "He didn't. I hit him. I fought."
I know they wouldn't have stopped loving me if he had, but even i can see the relief on their faces as they pull me close again. As they wrapped their arms around me. They were as happy about this as I was. How couldn't they be, I know I was.
I take them back into the room after that. They argued that they didn't have to see it, they believed me. But I needed them and everyone else to see how this finished. I needed them to know. I needed them to see I hadn't given up. That I had fought him all the way.
They watch as I reach for the picture frame and as I hit him in the head. They watch me go to the door before going back for the phone. And even though I was out of the view because I was up the stairs, now I could see father get up. I see him reach for his pistol and I see him go up the stairs. Even from the basement, the deafening shot could be heard.
We're interrupted by the door being open by Gabbie, who looked half asleep but more than awake in her pajamas. Her eyes land on me as she holds the door open, "Ian is awake."
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Guys, I am being productive for once! Here ya go <3
9/18/18